Transferred from shore duty to seas duty with school in between. Left San diego mid July (Active USN) upon finishing my first school I took 16 days off in between my the first and second school. Returned Friday the 19th.
Saturday august 20th. Trip one.
Great weather
James, Paul ,Johnny IV and myself left MCRD at 0745 get two decent scoops from the barge snd point it out west. Around the south nine we see all kinds of life a bunch of boats spread out and spots of fish all over.
Couldn’t get it to go so we pushed on. After trying at them for 2 hours with all the surface splashing lures and jigs.
Had some numbers for down south a bit that worked for a buddy the day prior. Find a patty game on.
Kids happy with the five he caught returned a few and Mexican limits for the mahi. Push back up the line find the foam zone going again and less crowded. Around 4 pm it starts to go for us. James had the hot stick a Stella 14000 and some ocea Shimano rod with a feed popper 175 in clear went 5/7 on it . Lost a 90-100# at gaf damn head shakes at the surface shook it and sank away. No big deal we have some tuna.
Last foam of the day pin a large mackerel on tree wrong rod 25# leader and get smoked. Some how got that to deep color at 35 minutes on the bow bc we had to chase it down. gaf comes out (bad idea) popped the hook. Never know how big but a large one maybe 80# don’t have tuna pics from this trip too busy.
Had mahi tacos with the neighbors and smoked all the tuna on the Yoder that was Sunday.
Day two
Monday aug 22. Take my good buddy Ken
his dad and brother in from Texas out for some fun. Crap Weather. Same
Routine as day one. Find the stuff on the south nine pass it up too many boats. Head back down south above the 425 find a full speed patty those boys are stoked. Mexico limits of dorado and handful of yt too. Push up the line find my buddy Shawn on a patty. See some birds working in the distance so good bait on it boils all over. Nice 70# bft three rods bent only one stays hooked. Broke two off on 40#. Kens fighting his fish I grab a mackerel toss it back and off to the races can’t stop it on a 500 bv2 accurate valiant. Can’t chase it Ken’s ona fish. I think the lines crossed lost them both.
That dies off no tuna four casualties. Pass by the nine see some foam hard to get in on it still crap weather the Texas boys are stoked any way so off to the barn.
Day three
Tuesday 23aug
Wake up
At 8 find James in the garage loading up gear. He’s going fishing well ill
Go change up his plans with mike and we all go in my rig. Gentleman’s start get bait at 10 make mackerel 20
Pieces or so out of the bay around 1045. Flat grease wow what a difference 18 hours can make. Fly out to the s9 find birds have Mark’s on the up n down. Toss a dipper game on. Mikes bent I’m bent James is bent. And we all suck. Lost them
All pulled hooks these circle hooks did not do their job here. Round two hahaha we suck again same out come wtf are we doing boys. Ok mikes on round three phew 25 # bft gilled and gutted in the bag. Oh look a foam spot. Head over there boom fish more me. 35# bft rinse wnd repeat on the foam I got four on the new Stella and black hole rod I bought due to James sold me on his set up. Getting late in the day we find our last foam I’m casting at it mike
Drops back a bait he’s bit
James Does the same he’s bent
I’m on the bow casting away nothing but fish boils all over. Okay okay ill
Fish a bait. Not ten ft from the stern it inhaled we got a tripple
Going again for the fourth time that day but this time we got all three.
Ended this day with 5 bft and 5 yft. One of the yft was potentially a big eye don’t have great pics here so yft is shall
Remain.
Spend Wednesday processing and calling friends to come have some fresh fish for their freezers too.
Day 4 Thursday aug 25
Back out there with James and mike and add jasper to the mix. Leave the dock at 530 wait in a pretty bad bait line for over and hour and get pretty beat bait. make a bunch of mackerel after. Out to s9 to find it a desert hmm heard about the seiners wrapping it from a report on here. I say I bet it went north but we Push it west find a patty no good. Keep chugging hit the 302 nada. Clean water all Around where our golden patty huh. 230 zone nothing. Push south a mile there she is full Speed mahi. All
You want. We took our 8 released about forty more. You name it,
It worked bait, poppers, surface iron, stick bait ,bare hook wound fast, colt
Sniper. Very fun fishing. Butt hook a fire dean and hmm
This isn’t a mahi. Football yft in the bag. Call in the numbers after had our fun. Two guys show up bite shuts down we leave off to find more tuna. Head into the canyon never found it. South nine nothing. What’s that up north oh a seiner bringing in his nets. Head that way. We cruse up north a bit around the north nine. Fleet of private boats lurking around. Guys pulling spreader bars bait fishing yada yada. Two boats charge off in the distance at what looks to be a former.
We shoot out to investigate. Half way there we find a big spot of puddling yft. Ha those guys just left here and what they chased after was porpoise any how. Mike gets licked on a bait while we all
Try poppers james yells out I’m on from the bow. That ends shortly after it began. Mikes fish in the van bleeding we go
Search for it again. Nothing but birds on bait and lots of it. Never saw the tuna again home
For early fish cleaning.
Take the next couple days off spend some time with the wife and kid on shore.
Trip five Sunday aug 28
Call up Jamie Friday he can’t fish Saturday but Sunday works
Finally get my wife on the boat too.
The whole family ,Jamie and his boy Stephen hop on around 6 we head out for bait. Crappy line wait an hour bait was better than Thursday skip the Mack’s and send it. Wanted to have it to ourselves so we push out west far. Split the 226/302 up the middle. So where past that we find our first patty. One mahi. Push farther west. notice this guy chasing behind me. Dude go find your own stuff please it’s not that hard I know find boats is easier than patties but they are all over. We make a drift on a real nice patty grab a second mahi. That guy really wanted to fish this patty with me I holler over can’t find your own stuff huh he leaves goes 100 yards and he’s on his own now. See how easy that was. He looks busy we don’t bother with him as he had us and we push farther west in the direction of the corner. Lots of dead water. Now out into international waters I think to myself there are Probably currents holding patties at the 43 high spot. About a mile south of it there she was and not a boat in sight. Full speed mahi everyone’s bent. Jamie and I gaf fish for my wife and the groms. We put 12 more on deck and start releasing them. No one needs that much mahi.
My wife recently got into spear fishing and has gathered up all the gear. We head back to the patty she hops in and says big seal no fish left. We leave. In search of tuna or maybe another dorado patty for her to get the hun out again. Stopped ona handful on our way in all dry.
Head over the 182 and onto the 178. Our last kelp of the day dry. We run a bit have a lonesome mark at 150 hmm maybe tuna. Toss a dipper and two baits back im
On sweet maybe a tuna. nope mahi can’t get away from these things. That wrapped up our day. Swing by the bait dock as they’re leaving for the day it’s 4pm honk they see me say no man im
Leaving trying to go home. I said well you guys said you wanted some fish earlier I have some for ya and toss them five quality dodo. Their stoked we high five off to the barn.
Weathers up not interested in getting beat up but want one more banger day. Plan a trip for Thursday sep1 call up Michael tell him to get us a crew. He comes through with chuck and Mohammad. Get a late start and pick the boys up at 8 hit the barge for a heavy three scoops of primo dean.
We knew the wind blew the last three days so the swell was going to suck. We leave the barge oh hi mr fog. On comes the radar. Get out to the Whistler and I can see again. Plan was to get US limits of dorado. Hmm ok not Going to Oceanside was going there any way in this crap, straight into the 6 foot at 6 seconds swell at 15 knots but not wind. Maybe it will lay down. Point it for the 178 have some numbers from buddies fishing the day prior word of foam and mahi. Five miles shy of the numbers west of the 178 we find big a big floatilla. ( not
Our friends) I usually
Wouldn’t go that direction but between them and us foam all over. Run up
On our first spot around 10 am. Two guys on the bow licked one sticks I grab the Stella toss into the Mayham Let it sit nothing pop twice a giant chases me two more pops I’m on and it’s a good one. Well this thing runs back to the foam and I see my line going straight trough white water peeling 24# of drag with ease a moment later I’m off there goes a feed popper 175 oh well sawed off my a foamed wouldn’t be the first time
That happened . That fish bothered me all day I wanted a big one on the new set up. Is what it is. Ok I retie ready for another round but Mohammad is still on he says his foot hurts green this for a minute he had surgery not long ago. I take the rod and get the fish to color he takes it back the fish is doing big circles it changes direction and pulls the hooks on his stick bait.
Ok where’s the foam. A bunch of boats onto the scene now We chase down four or five more spots. Getting out run buy guys in go fasts. I don’t like watching others run over fish and it basically has shut down for about half an hour so we bail
In hopes to find our own and properly approach them. Couldn’t find it again.
Push west almost a far west as the 182 but north some. Find a patty finally pull one mahi from it. Mike
Claims there’s lots of them but I never saw it. We go to
Reset on it as we’ve drifted a ways off it. Oh look turns dipping 100 south lets
Go there instead. Screen lights up
Pops a bunch of bait yft crashing the boat. Im on. five minutes later a nice 30# fish hits the deck. the boys have pulled some hooks broke some off wnd now fixing their casualties back in the water. My hook popped off taking it out set that one down a grab another rod. All the boys are settling into fish at this point,
I can’t buy a bite. Chucks works up the bow Mohammad plays leap
Frog with the engines and mike a handful
Of times I gaf Mikes fish two
In the bucket. Toss chum yft Ferociously chow down avoiding my 30# #4 circle offering we get the other two fish in chum more long soak baits sit for half and hour singles on the screen ok they don’t wanna play. We revisit the patty no one home.
Swell is down from earlier start heading back east. Zig zagging through the trench where’s our meal
Ticket patty??
Stop on two 5x5 dry patties. We’re now straight west of the 178 about 6 or 7 miles mike bangs on the roof from
The tower I found it he yells. We roll up to a 25x20 patty.
100 ft up
Swell and we are swarmed with dorado. All you want. An they’re hungry I never saw that patty again we drifted a mile probably for a good 1.5 hours completely stuffed a 30x60 reliable with very nice grade dorado. Casualties plenty. Dehooking was a pain. They swallowed most the baits immediately. Re tie and retie I get sick of that grab a sniper no
Love grab a popper they chase it but no love I grab the mad Mac drop
It down straight jig it twice I’m on. So funny jack like that into the boat. Ok I had my fun i
Clean up the carnage and tie up. By this time we are using 4/0 hooks on straight Braid or 40# no Leaders not even taking time to trim tag ends. 39 dorado in the bag. A dozen plus returned. We call it in but seems like everyone had a similar stop of their own. One fella wanted in but never saw them. Cleaned the boat drank some water the boys enjoyed beers everyone’s laughing high fives all the way around. Look in the water they are still there call it in again and head home.
That’s a wrap great fishing the last two weeks back off to Great Lakes for school until Mid December. Sent off with a bang. Thanks for reading. Go fish it’s biting seasons over for me! Enjoy
Saturday august 20th. Trip one.
Great weather
James, Paul ,Johnny IV and myself left MCRD at 0745 get two decent scoops from the barge snd point it out west. Around the south nine we see all kinds of life a bunch of boats spread out and spots of fish all over.
Couldn’t get it to go so we pushed on. After trying at them for 2 hours with all the surface splashing lures and jigs.
Had some numbers for down south a bit that worked for a buddy the day prior. Find a patty game on.
Kids happy with the five he caught returned a few and Mexican limits for the mahi. Push back up the line find the foam zone going again and less crowded. Around 4 pm it starts to go for us. James had the hot stick a Stella 14000 and some ocea Shimano rod with a feed popper 175 in clear went 5/7 on it . Lost a 90-100# at gaf damn head shakes at the surface shook it and sank away. No big deal we have some tuna.
Last foam of the day pin a large mackerel on tree wrong rod 25# leader and get smoked. Some how got that to deep color at 35 minutes on the bow bc we had to chase it down. gaf comes out (bad idea) popped the hook. Never know how big but a large one maybe 80# don’t have tuna pics from this trip too busy.
Had mahi tacos with the neighbors and smoked all the tuna on the Yoder that was Sunday.
Day two
Monday aug 22. Take my good buddy Ken
his dad and brother in from Texas out for some fun. Crap Weather. Same
Routine as day one. Find the stuff on the south nine pass it up too many boats. Head back down south above the 425 find a full speed patty those boys are stoked. Mexico limits of dorado and handful of yt too. Push up the line find my buddy Shawn on a patty. See some birds working in the distance so good bait on it boils all over. Nice 70# bft three rods bent only one stays hooked. Broke two off on 40#. Kens fighting his fish I grab a mackerel toss it back and off to the races can’t stop it on a 500 bv2 accurate valiant. Can’t chase it Ken’s ona fish. I think the lines crossed lost them both.
That dies off no tuna four casualties. Pass by the nine see some foam hard to get in on it still crap weather the Texas boys are stoked any way so off to the barn.
Day three
Tuesday 23aug
Wake up
At 8 find James in the garage loading up gear. He’s going fishing well ill
Go change up his plans with mike and we all go in my rig. Gentleman’s start get bait at 10 make mackerel 20
Pieces or so out of the bay around 1045. Flat grease wow what a difference 18 hours can make. Fly out to the s9 find birds have Mark’s on the up n down. Toss a dipper game on. Mikes bent I’m bent James is bent. And we all suck. Lost them
All pulled hooks these circle hooks did not do their job here. Round two hahaha we suck again same out come wtf are we doing boys. Ok mikes on round three phew 25 # bft gilled and gutted in the bag. Oh look a foam spot. Head over there boom fish more me. 35# bft rinse wnd repeat on the foam I got four on the new Stella and black hole rod I bought due to James sold me on his set up. Getting late in the day we find our last foam I’m casting at it mike
Drops back a bait he’s bit
James Does the same he’s bent
I’m on the bow casting away nothing but fish boils all over. Okay okay ill
Fish a bait. Not ten ft from the stern it inhaled we got a tripple
Going again for the fourth time that day but this time we got all three.
Ended this day with 5 bft and 5 yft. One of the yft was potentially a big eye don’t have great pics here so yft is shall
Remain.
Spend Wednesday processing and calling friends to come have some fresh fish for their freezers too.
Day 4 Thursday aug 25
Back out there with James and mike and add jasper to the mix. Leave the dock at 530 wait in a pretty bad bait line for over and hour and get pretty beat bait. make a bunch of mackerel after. Out to s9 to find it a desert hmm heard about the seiners wrapping it from a report on here. I say I bet it went north but we Push it west find a patty no good. Keep chugging hit the 302 nada. Clean water all Around where our golden patty huh. 230 zone nothing. Push south a mile there she is full Speed mahi. All
You want. We took our 8 released about forty more. You name it,
It worked bait, poppers, surface iron, stick bait ,bare hook wound fast, colt
Sniper. Very fun fishing. Butt hook a fire dean and hmm
This isn’t a mahi. Football yft in the bag. Call in the numbers after had our fun. Two guys show up bite shuts down we leave off to find more tuna. Head into the canyon never found it. South nine nothing. What’s that up north oh a seiner bringing in his nets. Head that way. We cruse up north a bit around the north nine. Fleet of private boats lurking around. Guys pulling spreader bars bait fishing yada yada. Two boats charge off in the distance at what looks to be a former.
We shoot out to investigate. Half way there we find a big spot of puddling yft. Ha those guys just left here and what they chased after was porpoise any how. Mike gets licked on a bait while we all
Try poppers james yells out I’m on from the bow. That ends shortly after it began. Mikes fish in the van bleeding we go
Search for it again. Nothing but birds on bait and lots of it. Never saw the tuna again home
For early fish cleaning.
Take the next couple days off spend some time with the wife and kid on shore.
Trip five Sunday aug 28
Call up Jamie Friday he can’t fish Saturday but Sunday works
Finally get my wife on the boat too.
The whole family ,Jamie and his boy Stephen hop on around 6 we head out for bait. Crappy line wait an hour bait was better than Thursday skip the Mack’s and send it. Wanted to have it to ourselves so we push out west far. Split the 226/302 up the middle. So where past that we find our first patty. One mahi. Push farther west. notice this guy chasing behind me. Dude go find your own stuff please it’s not that hard I know find boats is easier than patties but they are all over. We make a drift on a real nice patty grab a second mahi. That guy really wanted to fish this patty with me I holler over can’t find your own stuff huh he leaves goes 100 yards and he’s on his own now. See how easy that was. He looks busy we don’t bother with him as he had us and we push farther west in the direction of the corner. Lots of dead water. Now out into international waters I think to myself there are Probably currents holding patties at the 43 high spot. About a mile south of it there she was and not a boat in sight. Full speed mahi everyone’s bent. Jamie and I gaf fish for my wife and the groms. We put 12 more on deck and start releasing them. No one needs that much mahi.
My wife recently got into spear fishing and has gathered up all the gear. We head back to the patty she hops in and says big seal no fish left. We leave. In search of tuna or maybe another dorado patty for her to get the hun out again. Stopped ona handful on our way in all dry.
Head over the 182 and onto the 178. Our last kelp of the day dry. We run a bit have a lonesome mark at 150 hmm maybe tuna. Toss a dipper and two baits back im
On sweet maybe a tuna. nope mahi can’t get away from these things. That wrapped up our day. Swing by the bait dock as they’re leaving for the day it’s 4pm honk they see me say no man im
Leaving trying to go home. I said well you guys said you wanted some fish earlier I have some for ya and toss them five quality dodo. Their stoked we high five off to the barn.
Weathers up not interested in getting beat up but want one more banger day. Plan a trip for Thursday sep1 call up Michael tell him to get us a crew. He comes through with chuck and Mohammad. Get a late start and pick the boys up at 8 hit the barge for a heavy three scoops of primo dean.
We knew the wind blew the last three days so the swell was going to suck. We leave the barge oh hi mr fog. On comes the radar. Get out to the Whistler and I can see again. Plan was to get US limits of dorado. Hmm ok not Going to Oceanside was going there any way in this crap, straight into the 6 foot at 6 seconds swell at 15 knots but not wind. Maybe it will lay down. Point it for the 178 have some numbers from buddies fishing the day prior word of foam and mahi. Five miles shy of the numbers west of the 178 we find big a big floatilla. ( not
Our friends) I usually
Wouldn’t go that direction but between them and us foam all over. Run up
On our first spot around 10 am. Two guys on the bow licked one sticks I grab the Stella toss into the Mayham Let it sit nothing pop twice a giant chases me two more pops I’m on and it’s a good one. Well this thing runs back to the foam and I see my line going straight trough white water peeling 24# of drag with ease a moment later I’m off there goes a feed popper 175 oh well sawed off my a foamed wouldn’t be the first time
That happened . That fish bothered me all day I wanted a big one on the new set up. Is what it is. Ok I retie ready for another round but Mohammad is still on he says his foot hurts green this for a minute he had surgery not long ago. I take the rod and get the fish to color he takes it back the fish is doing big circles it changes direction and pulls the hooks on his stick bait.
Ok where’s the foam. A bunch of boats onto the scene now We chase down four or five more spots. Getting out run buy guys in go fasts. I don’t like watching others run over fish and it basically has shut down for about half an hour so we bail
In hopes to find our own and properly approach them. Couldn’t find it again.
Push west almost a far west as the 182 but north some. Find a patty finally pull one mahi from it. Mike
Claims there’s lots of them but I never saw it. We go to
Reset on it as we’ve drifted a ways off it. Oh look turns dipping 100 south lets
Go there instead. Screen lights up
Pops a bunch of bait yft crashing the boat. Im on. five minutes later a nice 30# fish hits the deck. the boys have pulled some hooks broke some off wnd now fixing their casualties back in the water. My hook popped off taking it out set that one down a grab another rod. All the boys are settling into fish at this point,
I can’t buy a bite. Chucks works up the bow Mohammad plays leap
Frog with the engines and mike a handful
Of times I gaf Mikes fish two
In the bucket. Toss chum yft Ferociously chow down avoiding my 30# #4 circle offering we get the other two fish in chum more long soak baits sit for half and hour singles on the screen ok they don’t wanna play. We revisit the patty no one home.
Swell is down from earlier start heading back east. Zig zagging through the trench where’s our meal
Ticket patty??
Stop on two 5x5 dry patties. We’re now straight west of the 178 about 6 or 7 miles mike bangs on the roof from
The tower I found it he yells. We roll up to a 25x20 patty.
100 ft up
Swell and we are swarmed with dorado. All you want. An they’re hungry I never saw that patty again we drifted a mile probably for a good 1.5 hours completely stuffed a 30x60 reliable with very nice grade dorado. Casualties plenty. Dehooking was a pain. They swallowed most the baits immediately. Re tie and retie I get sick of that grab a sniper no
Love grab a popper they chase it but no love I grab the mad Mac drop
It down straight jig it twice I’m on. So funny jack like that into the boat. Ok I had my fun i
Clean up the carnage and tie up. By this time we are using 4/0 hooks on straight Braid or 40# no Leaders not even taking time to trim tag ends. 39 dorado in the bag. A dozen plus returned. We call it in but seems like everyone had a similar stop of their own. One fella wanted in but never saw them. Cleaned the boat drank some water the boys enjoyed beers everyone’s laughing high fives all the way around. Look in the water they are still there call it in again and head home.
